The Sushi Date
by swimminginwaterfalls
Summary: 4.19 episode tag


Catherine grinned as she watched Steve pop two teriyaki salmon rolls into his mouth at the same time.

"You don't seem to be very hungry at all," she said, holding back her laughter.

He looked up at her from the sashimi slice he was now dunking unceremoniously into the small bowl of soy sauce.

"Maybe just a little," he replied with a straight face, before stuffing the sashimi into his mouth as well for good measure.

She burst out laughing at his puffed out cheeks and his struggle to chew all three things at once, and his indignant expression only made her laugh even harder. "Very glamorous, Steve."

"Aren't I always?" he managed to say after a huge swallow.

She smiled at him, her eyes taking in the blisters on his hands and the cuts on his face. They had attracted a fair bit of attention walking into the restaurant - Steve's slowly darkening bruises and the two deep cuts on Cath's face did nothing to detract from the fact that they had just appeared on the news a few hours earlier. Just thinking about a few hours earlier made her breath quicken and her head ache.

The sudden throb in her head must have shown on her face, because Steve set down his chopsticks, looking at her concernedly. "Hey, you okay?" he asked her, reaching for her hand.

The panic, the suffocating feeling of uncertainty and helplessness suddenly rushed back to her, and she gripped his hand tightly, her fingers twitching slightly. The warmth of his hand in hers, that she had so desperately craved even while his and Danny's severely bruised and concrete-covered faces had appeared on her laptop screen, causing relief to such an extent that she had never experienced before, now made her slightly dizzy with an almost ridiculously great sense of disbelief. Disbelief at how real the possibility of losing him had been, disbelief that he was now sitting right in front of her, across from a humongous plate of sushi, those hazel eyes gazing at her with so much concern that she felt some guilt for feeling this way. He had been the one trapped fifty feet below the surface after all.

"_I never worried,_" she had told him, after he released her from that immensely comforting hug, that she was sure he had needed just as much as she did. But she knew, from the way his hands lingered on her arm as he let go of her, that of course he knew she had worried. The slightly frantic look in his eyes just before he pulled her into his arms, his heart beating so quickly against her chest, his tight grip on her shoulder, and his deep breaths against her neck, were all enough to tell her that he had been just as scared. The panic and buzz of their surroundings then were now gone, but the reality of what had happened seemed to remain absorbed into their skin, even with the clinks of cutlery and the muffled conversations of their fellow restaurant patrons in the background.

Steve rubbed her knuckles gently with his thumb, shifting his chair around the edge of the small circular table so that he was sitting right next to her, their arms pressed together, allowing him to feel the slight tremor of the muscles in her forearms. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes for the first time that day, as she inhaled the familiar scent of him, so very much like the crisp, salty ocean air that entered their room every morning.

"I'm fine," she said softly. "I just - I'm just so glad you're here now."

"Hey," he said, smiling gently at her, "I wasn't going to go anywhere."

He looked at her for a long time, not saying anything, but yet saying so many things at the same time, his thumb still slowly running across her knuckles.

"I never, well, I never thanked you, Cath," he said finally. "Lou told me everything. I guess I really do owe you again, don't I?"

She laughed softly. "No, I don't think you do," she replied. "I think you'd have done the same. For any of us, not just me."

"True," he admitted, "but you were amazing today, Cath." He didn't tell her that when he said that Grover had told him everything, he meant _everything_, including the way she had dove straight for the rubble with only her gloved hands the moment she realised that he and Danny were trapped, ignoring the warnings of danger from the rest, the way she insisted on helping to locate them, and that it had been her idea to send the cell receptor down the same way as the microphone. He had listened to Lou quietly while being patched up by the paramedics, but the silent gratefulness, awe and pride he had felt for her still remained in his chest now, which might have been the only thing keeping him upright at the restaurant instead of letting his head fall onto the table from sheer exhaustion and tremendously aching muscles. He wanted to tell her about Edward Cobbs, he had to, but now wasn't the time, and she probably had had enough to take for one day. Besides, they most likely would have the next few days to themselves, none of the team would be able to get up for work in their present states.

She smiled at him again, but it didn't quite reach her eyes, and he inched his chair even closer to her, draping an arm across her chair, allowing her body to lean into his. They never did this in public, but today he didn't care, and apparently neither did she, as she rested her head on his chest, each other's presence doing more than anything else ever could to reassure themselves that they were both okay.

They sat like that in silence for a few minutes, Steve inhaling the scent of coconut from her hair, the trembling in her muscles slowly easing. He was still quietly stroking the insides of her wrists when his stomach growled. Laughing, Cath pulled herself away and rubbed his leg gently. "Okay, okay, your sushi's waiting," she said, poking his arm with a chopstick.

He grinned at her. "Do you think I can do three teriyaki salmons this time?" he asked, raising one eyebrow in a mock serious expression.

"You've got to be kidding me," she replied, but pushed the plate of sushi towards him all the same.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said, eyes glinting, before stuffing three relatively large pieces of sushi into his mouth.

Cath stared at him, mouth slightly open, as he successfully swallowed everything.

"You are unbelievable," she exclaimed, smacking him lightly on the arm.

He smiled at the sparkle that had returned to her eyes, his gaze softening slightly as the red cuts on her face registered in his mind once more. "I can say the same of you, Catherine Rollins."


End file.
